Pharmageddon in Mental Health: Are We Getting Better? A Critical Analysis of

Diagnoses, Medicatization & Outcomes in the Treatment of Mental Health

This workshop will focus on the evolving treatment practices by critically analyzing the empirical support, potential for corporate bias within empirical studies and treatment outcomes of these practices. It will review the treatment trends and history of common diagnoses such as depression, bi-polar disorder, anxiety disorders and ADHD with a focus on disease progression and resolution over time. We will explore the way in which common drugs to treat these disorders work on neurochemistry in both the long and short term including common side effects. We will identify misconceptions and distortions that arise from popular marketing practices vs clinical relevance and practical application of these treatments. We will also investigate the expansion of the DSM diagnostic criteria and how this expansion may contribute to the pathologizing of normal behavior and increasing reliance on medication management of these diagnoses.

Please note these credits are accepted for PA license only:NASW has been designated as a pre-approved provider of professional continuing education for social workers, marriage and family therapist and professional counselors by the PA State Board of Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapist and Professional Counselors, call your state licensing board to verify CEU's